Berkeley County Quitclaim Deed (Trustee Grantee) Form

The grantee on this South Carolina quitclaim deed takes in a capacity rather than in an individual right. One person is named as trustee, the trust that person serves is identified by name and date, and the interest released comes to rest on terms the deed points to but does not contain. One individual signs as grantor; the trustee signs nothing.

A grantee named in a capacity

Trustee title is one of the ownership forms South Carolina recognizes on the receiving side of a deed. Record title stands in the trustee according to the deed and the trust relationship, and no survivorship among beneficiaries arises merely because a trustee holds the paper. The grantee section is built for that entry: trustee name, capacity, and the mailing address Section 30-5-35 of the South Carolina Code requires on a deed conveying land, with a short separate section for the trust's name and the date of its instrument. Those same two trust facts open a certification of trust under Section 62-7-1013, which subsection (j) has executed and acknowledged for recording where the land lies, as a separate document not part of this package.

Deed stamps stop following the recital

South Carolina charges a deed recording fee, the charge counties call deed stamps, measured against the realty's value. On a transfer into a trust the measure changes: Section 12-24-30 provides that where realty is transferred to a trust, value means fair market value, less any lien that existed before the transfer and remains after it, so a nominal recital does not set the figure. The exemption that reaches a funding transfer sits instead in Section 12-24-40(8), for a deed transferring realty to a trust as a trust beneficiary, or so as to become one, where nothing is paid beyond beneficiary interest in the trust or the increase in value of the grantor's interest. The affidavit of value Section 12-24-70 calls for then carries the exemption reason in place of an amount, as a separate recorded document not included here.

Reappraisal and the four percent ratio

Section 12-37-3150 counts a conveyance to a trust among the events that make a parcel an assessable transfer of interest, then lifts two of them: a conveyance by the settlor or the settlor's spouse, or both, where the sole present beneficiaries are the settlor or that spouse, and a conveyance of property already carrying the special four percent ratio where the sole present beneficiaries are the settlor's children. Section 12-43-220(c)(1) keeps the four percent legal residence ratio available for trust-held residential property when the income beneficiary occupies the home and the trustee certifies the occupancy to the assessor.

The trustee grantee configuration

One grantor releases, so the form carries one signature line with a printed name and date, two subscribing witness blocks answering the two witness practice South Carolina statutes and county registers of deeds describe, and a single acknowledgment certificate. Above the signature sits the traditional attestation line, SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED in the presence of, the clause Section 27-7-30 reads for sealed instrument effect. A sole owner moving a parcel from that owner's individual name to the trustee of a living trust, and an owner releasing a remaining fractional interest to the trustee who already holds the rest of the same parcel, present the pattern this deed recites. The form recites exactly one individual grantor and one grantee taking as trustee; a release by two record owners, a release running to a grantee who takes individually, and a trustee conveying property back out of a trust each follow a different signing pattern than the one printed here.

What the record asks for

A quit claim deed, also called a non-warranty deed, promises nothing about title, and Section 30-5-35 leaves such deeds outside its derivation clause, so the prior instrument entry stays optional. County intake still wants the legal description and the parcel's tax map number, each with its own section, and recording any deed costs fifteen dollars under Section 8-21-310. From the day and hour of recording, Section 30-7-10 measures the deed against later creditors and purchasers for value without notice.

Three files come with the purchase: the trustee grantee quitclaim deed as a blank fillable PDF, a completed example worked through on a Beaufort County fact pattern, and a plain language guide that takes the eleven sections in order and treats the trust entries, the signing, the fee and exemption arithmetic, and recording. Nothing here is legal advice; it describes South Carolina law in general terms.